Menu: Chocolate treats and a Devonshire cream tea for Mother's Day
Devonshire Cream Tea in the Pugin Room followed by a talk and tour of the splendid gardens as part of a fundraiser at Lismore Castle in County Waterford on Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is upon us once more and though Dear Old Sainted Mother Menu reckons nothing will ever rid her of the traumas that came with first birthing and then raising The Menu she volunteers that the occasional wheelbarrow full of chocolate is at least a good start in making amends.
And the English Market’s Chocolate Shop is an ideal place to commence loading, with owner Rose Daly supplementing her superb range of premium single origin chocolate bars from around the world with excellent handmade individual chocolates, including a fine Irish selection and, of course, specially assembled hampers.
DOSM Menu is equally partial to a good garden and a Devonshire Cream Tea — on offer on Devonshire Day/Mother’s Day (March 27) in Lismore Castle, in County Waterford, with afternoon tea served in the Pugin Room under the aegis of the Duke of Devonshire’s butler.
This includes a talk on the history of the castle and a preview tour of the spectacular spring gardens — a once-off opportunity not generally available to visitors — and the event is a fundraiser for the Immrama Festival of Travel Writing, which takes place once more, in June 2022, after a two-year hiatus.
- Tea & Tours: 11.30am, 12.40pm, 1.50pm, 3pm and 4.10pm.
- Pre-booked ticket (€27.55) entrance only, available on Lismore-Immrama.com or 085 8628445.
Gregan’s Castle Hotel, is offering a truly splendid Mother’s Day option of a special one night only (March 27) dinner and bed and breakfast rate (bookable online, full pre-payment required) with 100% of the proceeds going to help those fleeing Ukraine (Red Cross) and to feed those left behind (World Central Kitchen). A very lovely way to support a truly deserving cause while treating someone special.
The Menu’s attention sees online wine retailer Winespark selling mystery three-bottle wine packs of ‘return’ wines, with 100% of proceeds going to Unicef Ireland to support the children of Ukraine.
Other than wine splashes or scuff marks on the bottles the wine within is absolutely perfect and includes some very decent offerings. What’s more, Winespark will pay for all post and packaging, delivered direct to your door.
The Menu and Daughter Menu are all over the latte art thing, creating splendid decorations on the top of their foamy cups of Joe. However, their technique is not exactly barista-standard for it involves them pouring foamed hot milk over espressos to create shapes and patterns and only afterwards deciding what those shapes and patterns actually resemble.
Having decided to up their game, they intend to visit the latest new outpost in West Cork Coffee’s continued expansion, a new espresso bar and training centre, in Grey Heron West Cork, on Bridge St, in Bandon, where not only does proprietor and chief roaster Tony Speight serve up some of his very splendid coffees but also offers a day-long Barista and Roasting Workshop, preparing participants for working in hospitality, home brewing, and offering hands-on roasting experience, with a tote bag of WCC merchandise and coffee to take home.
Five iconic Irish food brands (Flahavan’s, Butler’s Chocolate, McCambridge’s Bread, Keogh’s Crisps and Barry’s Tea) are assembled in a single hamper with 1,000 of them to be sent out to random Irish homes during the month of March as part of St Patrick’s Day celebrations. Register online for a chance to receive one.
After The Menu’s exertions at Twickenham last Saturday — well, not quite Twickenham but instead a fine Leeside hostelry for purposes of observing same — he found himself in need of a prolonged post-match rehabilitation and recovery session the following day. Such a session required a nice bottle of creamy, saline Albariño, and a care package from Vincent Corrigan and Stefan Griesbach’s latest venture, fishtins.com. This is an online portal based in Galway and retailing — for home delivery anywhere in the country — a sterling gourmet range of canned premium seafood produce.
For years, one of The Menu's favourite suppers has been to open a simple can of sardines, sprinkle herbes de Provence and chopped garlic over them, and grill the fish in their can under the grill for as long as it takes to toast a couple of slices of good sourdough and prepare a fresh, crisp green salad with pickles for one of the easiest yet most splendid suppers imaginable. And, in many parts of the world, premium tinned seafood is recognised as an instant gustatory gala spree for the true gourmand.
The fish range includes line-caught Albacore tuna belly, sardines, anchovies, mackerel and trout and the seafood range includes mussels, oysters, squid, octopus, patés, spreads, fish roes, eggs, livers and so much more, as well as soups, stocks and seaweeds — and all of it from premium processors around Europe.
Along with his wine, The Menu had a lovely sourdough baguette refreshed in the oven, pickled cornichons, homemade mayonnaise and a salad of greens and radicchio while his seafood smorgasbord included escabeche mussels, sea urchin roe, octopus tentacles, stuffed squid, spiced sardine pate, plain sardines in olive oil, tuna ventresca in olive oil.
